Hoar Cross, Holy Angels
The Church of Holy Angels is on the west side of Maker Lane next to Hoar Cross Hall and a little south of the small village of Hoar Cross. There is space to park on the road beside the church.
The tower is in the middle of this cruciform church and access to the ringing room is from inside the tower. First you climb a 27 step spiral staircase (anti-clockwise) then a cross walk and then a 30 step spiral staircase (clockwise) to unwind yourself. The ringing room is quite spacious but with limited seating for those not ringing the 6 bells. There are two high windows that provide some natural light. Both bells #5 and the Tenor have boxes to ring from.
2011-06-16 [ expand ]
I visited for the first time on Thursday 16th June 2011 as the first tower
[2nd,
3rd,
4th,
5th,
]
of the 260th Mid-week Outing
of the
Four Shires Guild.
We started by ringing up bells #1, #3 (me) and #5 very slowly. It took to ring up the Tenor while #2 and #4 were rung up singly. I rang bell #5 for plain hunt on 5 and 6 which went ok though a little quick. This is the heaviest ring of 6 that I have visited.
The Bells
The tower has a ring of 6 bells with a tenor weighing 28-1-17 in D♭. Dove's Guide includes details of the bells at Holy Angels and some additional information is provided by The North Staffordshire Association of Change Ringers.